Quint orders a giant plate of RATATOUILLE and eats it up!!!

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here.
Because I’m set up to interview Patton Oswalt and Janeane Garofalo before the big AICN screening of RATATOUILLE on Monday, I had an opportunity to watch the film last week, in a digital cinema no less.
I am a Brad Bird stalker. I absolutely adore his work so far. I have an IRON GIANT one-sheet framed and mounted on the wall about 3 feet to my left as I type this. I got him to sign it at Comic-Con the year he was promoting THE INCREDIBLES. And THE INCREDIBLES… My favorite Pixar movie, followed closely by TOY STORY 2.
So, my expectations were so very high going into this movie.
When the lights went down I was treated to two nice little surprises. First was an animated short called LIFTED directed by Gary Rydstrom. This was nominated at this year’s Oscars, but this was my first time to see the short.
It’s about an abduction gone wrong. Sci-fi coolness and word-less comedy gold that stands up with the other great Pixar shorts, like BOUNDIN’ and FOR THE BIRDS.
After the five minute cartoon we were treated to the trailer for the next Pixar movie, a story about a little robot named WALL-E. The teaser showed us WALL-E doing his job, taking trash and scrap, putting it into his body, then pulling out a compacted cube.
The trailer’s best moment shows us the moment WALL-E begins to dream. The short, squat robot looks up to a brilliant starry sky. We see the stars reflected in his eye lenses and, again without a word, we see his imagination spark. This looks great.
Then RATATOUILLE began.
What can I say? It’s as effortlessly great as the rest of Pixar’s movies.
The most common question I’ve gotten after seeing the film has been, “It’s better than CARS, right?”
I liked CARS, but I do agree that it’s probably the least Pixarish movie they’ve put out. With the modern pop culture references and jokes, it was more “the normal” studio animation formula. I do think it had the heart of a Pixar movie, though, which is why I still really like it.
RATATOUILLE is back to Pixar standard. Lots of character humor and heart, but no distracting wink-wink jokes.
You’ve seen the trailer, you know the plot. The trailers are accurate to the film. They’re not overselling it, or selling it as a different movie than it really is. If you like the trailer, you’ll love the movie.
I know geeks will love this because it’s Brad Bird. I know families will love this because it’s great Pixar. They really are making the movies Uncle Walt used to make back in the day. And they make it look so damn easy.
I’m not sure how critics are going to respond to it, though. The main villain is Anton Ego, a critic. He’s designed like something out of a Tim Burton fever-dream and voiced perfectly by Peter O’Toole.
It’s not just that the big villain is a critic, but there’s a monologue that O’Toole has that really shines a light on how critics work and how most of them really look at life. I don’t know if a lot of critics can take it as well as they can give it. I completely agree with the reverse criticism given in the film. I’ve met many, many, many critics in my time writing for this site and can say that not all of them act like Anton Ego, but a whole lot of them do.
I wouldn’t be surprised if you see a little critical backlash just because of that segment of the movie.
The pacing is perfect, never slowing down. The characters are all interesting and all are perfectly cast. Patton Oswalt brings a kind of awed innocence to the lead character, Remy, and newbie Lou Romano is perfectly awkward as Linguini, the second half of the odd couple that is the lynchpin of the film. And Janeane Garofalo’s French accent is surprisingly natural. Her character of Colette is adorable, fiercely beautiful. I think we’ll see a lot of little boys (and maybe some little girls, who knows?) fall for her like I fell for Ariel.
The animation is outstanding. The detail is incredible. I remember when MONSTERS INC. came out and I was obsessed with Sulley’s fur and how Pixar made it so realistic. They turn it up here. Remy’s fur is beautiful, and they even have small details like seeing his little rodent heart beating rapidly in his chest. I grew up with tons of hamsters and I recognized this immediately. It just makes the world that much easier to get in to. It’s got this hyper unreality to it. It’s still a cartoon, but those little details make it work.
RATATOUILLE is not as geeky cool as Bird’s previous two films, but it proudly stands amongst the best Pixar has to offer. Bird brings us another fantastic movie.
-Quint
quint@aintitcool.com

The Incredibles was the weakest of the Pixar films. Could have been fantastic, it simply.....wasn't. Not wildly excited about this I have to say. However, if one of the rats gets abducted, hung upside down and it's throat slit in a sensuous way, I'm sure Harry will love it.

M took a dig at his critics? while i do agree with that sentiment (it was one of the couple things that hampered the otherwise-wonderful movie imo), i'm not sure what makes it okay for bird to do it. maybe it's just that i didn't dig iron giant and incredibles as much as everyone else. oh and seanny_d, i hope you're wrong. because if so, bird is acting like a 7 year old and just making a really complicated version of "oh yeah well you're just jealous!"

I have asked several people who normally see pixar and disney movies and they ALL said it sounded "gross". That was my impression as well.. why the hell would I want to watch a rat making dinner? I mean really.

been in a successful movie. Her track record is actually worse than Mandy Moore's. Heck, her whole CAREER is a failure. I mean think about it.. can you name one thing that she has ever done in any medium that had any measurable success? She's a fairly funny person but what else is there?

But it's nice to voice my support for something that looks fun and not insulting. I liked The Incredibles, and didn't even mind Cars. The way I saw it, Cars was pixar's worst film to date, but better then anything else out that summer or other studios animated features. But to reply where a reply wasn't asked, I know about five people who are interested in seeing this excluding myself. Pixar doesn't even have to ASK for my $20.00 bucks anymore.

And that's coming from someone who tends to think these computer animated things tend to look all the same. Given that the empty-headed critiques here are likely coming from the same morons who think HOSTEL totally rules, I think an original concept like this plus great animation plus Patton and Janeane will be a great time.

Great action sequences, amazing animation, and more importantly real characters and substance. Both Incredibles and Iron Giant are not there simply for the easy pun or joke but rather to bring real characters to the screen.

I guess they feel that the story of a rat wanting to cook is too simple a concept for Pixar after epics like The Incredibles. But it's still Pixar. They have not made a bad film yet. And it's Brad Bird. And Patton Oswalt. And as beautful and detailed as the animation looks, it also looks refreshingly cartoony. Something that Pixar does so well. I just can't wait.

A dude named HintofSmegma gets to come on and make a ridiculously unsupported statement like, "By the way, The Incredibles is the weakest of Pixar's films." Um, okay. You prefer Cars to The Incredibles? What a swell fellow you must be to hang out with. Then this ass clown Monkeybutt2000 posts with apparently no other agenda than to make himself feel cool, and possibly ruin Garafolo's day. Kudos, sirs, the world has truly become a better place for your having contributed!

Garafolo was in Reality Bites, which like it or not - and I'm in the 'not' camp - was fairly successful. Also, as Bacci stated there was that whole run of Larry Sanders. Oh, plus she's been around for 15 years, she's still working, and everyone here knows who she is. Okay, so she's not A-List, but I don't quite see how that is a complete failure.

I keep forgetting about it only because I've had Transformers on the brain as of late and POTC3 sucked my soul dry. Should have waited for DVD on that one but anyway I am pretty stoked for this for a few reasons, 1. because it's a pixar film, 2. because I am a Patton Oswalt fan, and 3. because there really isn't much more I am looking forward to after Transformers until the fall/winter movie season kicks into gear.
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What would not surprise me at all is if Ratatouille becomes the 2nd biggest movie of the year right behind Transformers which will be the #1 box office smash of 2007.
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And for the record Cars sucked.

Movie about a guy that puts people in torture contraptions or a serial killer that eats people? Cool! A cartoon about a rat cooking, however, is like totally gross. I get the same heebie jeebie feeling when they put bugs bunny in a large soup pot without skinning him first.

Maybe would be the first Pixar drama ..I don't know. A robot alone in the earth (think I am Legend in robot mode)but with a lot of soul in it. No dialoge, all the emotional thing will be in the eyes,....mmmm i have to wait ....A YEAR!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and I never could work out why... Then in a stunning moment of self-realization it came to me that she looked and moved exactly like the chick I had a horrible break-up with in college back in the UK in the early 90s. After that realization, I stopped irrationally hating her, and have enjoyed much of her work. However if I ever stumble across the chick from University I will still hate her, even though it is like 15 years later almost, and I cheated on her anyway, and we were only together like 4 months. None of that matters, 'cause I am still emotionally stunted and lacking true purpose or direction in life... So anyway, yeah, animated rat, great stuff...

They've either made good or great movies in the past so I have no worries this will be anything but one of the two. The Incredibles simply was the greatest film out of their stable, from design to execution and even that amazing John Barry-esque soundtrack the film was simply a work of art. Even before he got to PIXAR Brad Bird made a stunningly great movie in The Iron Giant, its a same all the box office went to Phantom Menace that year as BB's movie was obviously the superior one. As long as he's at the helm, I have no worries a tale about a rat that can cook in a French kitchen will be anything but 110% entertaining!

To me, the one that was "not as good" was Finding Nemo. I was bothered by how the entire time the father fish was trying to find Nemo when... Nemo was not even in the ocean to possibly be found. Not sure why I could never get past that. Moving on, I am excited as HELL for RATATOUILLE. That early footage clip showing several minutes was fantastic. Looks like another great one from them. *fingers crossed*

They don't seem to ever buy into that hollywood trend by casting the flavor of the month. I think the voice casting for The Incredibles was brilliant. I can't see Mr. Incredible being voiced by anyone except Craig T Nelson.

I think Pixar makes some great movies. But I wish they would allow more adult films into their studio. I mean who wouldn't want to see something like that with more realistic character models, kind of like Final Fantasy but not animeish, in terms of detail and facial expressions. Pixar should open an indy wing like Fox and allow filmmakers to create original films that don't necessarily have to appeal to children.

It's all the little things they do, the drama, the fact that they can appeal to and talk to all of their audience, or that they take the time and pain to carefully choose the voice actors and rerender the movie one time for each of the languages they release in, localizing even the smallest onscreen details...
You should really hear Amanda Lear do an awesome Italian Edna Mode that holds more than her own to Brad Bird :) maybe it's up on Youtube somewhere.

When it had exactly the same plot/theme all the others do! Anyway, this movie looks fun. And can I just say that "Reality Bites" is easily one of my least favourite films of all time. Risible whiney grunge-era shite!

The first time Prince Charming shows up on screen with the horse, the detail made that horse look real. At first, I thought it was a real horse. When Shrek and crew are out at sea, the water looked like real water and they were superimposed on it. Amazing graphics work, I must say. Shrek may get "people" wrong in many ways, but the detail work and some of the pieces (like the horse and the water) are nearly flawless. If this tops that, I'll be mightily impressed.

The hate for CARS. I enjoyed it much much more than the sacharine stories of FINDING NEMO and MONSTERS INC, which were both just too "Kiddie" for me to really get into. Well done, as is everything by Pixar, but not to my taste. CARS, however, surprised me in many ways - was funny, clever, touching, had a great message to it and was beautiful to watch. And this is from someone who really resisted the bizarre cars-world concept. For me the top Pixar movies are TOY STORY, THE INCREDIBLES, CARS, TOY STORY 2, A BUG'S LIFE. The last not getting the respect it deserves either. Oh well, to each his own.

I'm looking forward to this movie more than anything else right now, so good to hear that it's great. Apparently, there's a big story in Time magazine by Richard Corliss about this, but it has a lot of big spoilers. Avoid.

I agree, Col. Tigh-Fighter and supercowbell: "A Bug's Life" was also a great Pixar film. The theme of overthrowing long-accepted oppression through active rebellion was beautifully, sometimes harrowingly brought to life in that story. I watched it a few months ago with my 6 and 7-year old nephews, and the film brought tears to my eyes watching the silly bug characters struggle and rally to fight their centuries of subservience. Quite a moving film, actually.<p>
Plus, my nephews loved Flik and his inventions.

The folly of critics isn't knowing you can't do better than what you're reviewing. It's thinking you can. I myself do not review art for a living but I find that when I sit through some of my contemporary's films/plays/musicals I get caught up in judging it not based on the context in which it was intended but on the basis of my aesthetic being better/more sound than anyone else's and ergo, based on how I would have done it differently. Different equalling better in this instance. That's the folly right there. The hubris. I don't think critics in general are out for blood because they know they can't compete- I think they are deluded into thinking that they can, and that's what justifies their ire.

I truly enjoyed Cars. Personally I rate it way higher then A Bugs Life, and the FIRST Toy Story, and right below the Incredibles as the best Pixar film. Its just a very sweet film. Anyone ELSE like Cars?

See above post, I'm with you brother. I honestly believe people were loaded for bear before they ever set foot in the theatre. And thing is, I was too! I thought it would suck and I ended up really loving it. FINDING NEMO left me feeling just sort of disappointed and like I spent the day with the kiddies. I'm interested their next film is about a robot-thing - I think Pixar seems to really excel with mechanical things come to life.

I felt the same way too, I saw the trailer and thought, this is the first Pixar film that may actually fail. BUT they pulled it off. I guess I saw too much of a similarity to the Chevron Cars and thought it was going to be stupid. But man I was wrong. Car haters try and explain the hate if you could.

Yeah, I am not a NASCAR fan, not remotely, but it overcomes this to me. I enjoyed the hell out of it... it really is good, especially the Radiator Springs at the end.. Hell I have all 54 die cast cars still in the package that have been made yet, just waiting on the last few to be released. I really did think it was good.

I found incredibles good but not re-watchable. And I have never understood all the hate Cars gets. (Though my pet theory is that people hate it on principle. Because Nascar is a "Red-State" thing, they immediately tune out.)

One thing to keep in context in regards to Cars is that, when it was being made, it was the last movie Pixar owed Disney under a deal that had gone sour. I don't blame them for not giving it their best effort or best idea (saving better ideas for when they went solo). Even with all that, Cars is still quite good--just not up to the impossibly high bar of expectations they had set for themselves.

<p>all Pixar movies are the same?</p><p>With the exception of maybe Toy Story being similar in story to "Finding Nemo" (learning to "let go" of your kids) every one of the Pixar stories makes a unique statement. The Incredibles was about loving your own individuality and integrating it with love of family. A Bugs Life was a classic story of rebellion in the face of oppression. "Cars" was about not focusing on ourselves to the exclusion of appreciating the world around us and especially the people in it. Toy Story II was about knowing and remembering what our place in the world is. From what I understand of "Ratatouille", it's about pursuing a vision in spite of obstacles and nay-sayers.</p><p>The stories Pixar tells are often as unique and individual as the characters that populate them, so it baffles me how people think they're all alike. For one studio, they have made a great effort in diversity of storytelling.

I actually liked Balaban's critic character in Lady in the Water. Really. And I say: bring them on! I love film criticism. But I think that those who do it horribly wrong deserve some cinematic punishment. Can't wait for Ratatouille. Not only because of Mr. Ego.

by "we" i meant the editors of the site. not trying to place myself on par with Quint Harry Mori Massa et al, just poor word choice. i remember a lot of reviews pointing to the critic-bashing in Lady in the Water as one of the many reasons they hated it. i distinctly remember Massa saying "you don't hit back at your critics." so i'm just wondering why when it comes to M Night it's a big deal, but for Brad Bird it's a mere "oh critics might not like it."

It wasn't awful, but it wasn't so great either. The only other Pixar movie that was like that maybe was A Bug's Life, but that followed Toy Story, a huge classic, and it was only their second film and besides all that it was also pretty darned funny even if it didn't pop in all the same places as Toy Story did. Since then they have always impressed, and that got to be very darned amazing after Monsters Inc. followed by Toy Story 2 (or was it the other way around), followed by Finding Nemo, followed by the Incredibles. That was just an incredible run for any studio, as incredible as Steven Spielberg from Jaws to Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom (if you don't count 1941). They HAD to stumble sometime, and it got to be where even the movie that was just good would be seen as their big let down. That's CARS. Also, people who come to this site aren't huge NASCAR fans, nor are a lot of us old enough to have that 50s nostalgia for the automobile which CARS was trying to evoke--so the movie didn't hit any of our buzz buttons either, and that's why talkbackers are so hard on it. Plus, some people are trolls.

I've never seen talking cars or talking boats or planes look good. I was really surprised Pixar could make a movie with a concept that just don't work. I suspect some fool at Disney made up that story and forced them to do it. With Pixar now in charge and Brad bird minding them, they wont make mistakes like that. Peter O'Toole is fantastic, i love that Brad Bird dares criticize the critics and make one of them the villain, hee hee..Brad Bird and Jeff Smith on a cel animated "Bone", thats a great idea!

...just THINKING about the toolbags who think incredibles is mediocre and boring. i mean, seriously. if that's not 'failed animator' or 'wishful game tester' or the like talking, i don't know what is. i'm in full agreement that cars was a misfire, but give the pixar gang a break, they've been slaving over pixel counts for 10 years without a break. sooner or later they gotta slip. and yet everything about it was STILL superior to the innumerable badly animated films out there about some animal that farts and then thinks it's funny.

i was banned because i spoke foul of eli roth. lol what the hell aicn? any way as i said in my many deleted posts probably every pixar movie except cars is a classic. and over the hedge was pretty damn funny to.

Garofalo is not exactly my fav... but, she has been in some some impressive things: The Larry Sanders Show & the West Wing to name a couple. Her stand up can be clever at times too... For some, perhaps small doses of her are best, but she is only voicing a character this time around. The real comedic magic comes from those dudes at Pixar.

Incredibles Haters commentary dead on! Someone above wrote that it was good but not rewatchable. Christ. To paraphrase Paul Rudd, I've watched that movie twice while reading this talkback. Plus, even Pixar's fart jokes are funnier than most, that Finding Nemo one being pretty darn clever.

Even though the synopsis of the film did nothing for me, even though I have seen the trailer and only been mildly interested, I will see this film. Why? Because Brad Byrd! Right now, this is the guy I am willing to send my $10 directly to Brad Byrd just because Iron Giant and Incredibles were both perfect films. People listen to me crab about things they feel are minor imperfections in movies and ask "are there any films you do like?". Both of these are on my list of films I cannot complain about at all. I found Iron Giant for sale at Costco for $7 and I bought extra copies for people at work, just because it is a film people should own!! So, even though it is a story about a rat and french cooking (does this sound good?), I am damn well going to see it. It will probably be brilliant.

...might just be the best animated film ever made. I actually have a lot of confidence in that statment. Search Wall-E on google, there was a total synopsis of what the movie is about by some blogger who works at Pixar or something. It was up a little while ago anyway. I swear I got goosebumps just READING what it was about. If done properly (not the 'IF done properly), this drama could even compete with live-action films of a similar nature. I am whole-heartedly looking forward to it and it is easily my most anticipated film of 2008, at this point. Sure this may change, when I find out more about 2008, but it is right now.

...that nobody has pounced on the fact that Quint admitted to being in love with Ariel from The Little Mermaid. Anyhoo, Rat-atat-tat looks like a typically fun Pixar movie. I'll prolly check it out his Xmas on Blu-ray.

Both are fat, ugly, and unfunny, and their voices will almost kill an otherwise fine animated film.
For Rosie, it was Tarzan. For frump queen Garafalo, it will be that Rat Movie. Plus both have a hard for President Tom of Iran and Hugo "Prick Face" Chavez.

<p class=MsoNormal>I haven't seen it, but I'm going, because I want to hear my
favorite line of the year again. It's in the trailer. The hero just goofed, the
smart girl says &quot;I hate to be rude, but... I'm French.&quot; Those <span
class=SpellE>Pixar</span> people, they're so funny. I love them so much.... (Thank
you for giving us another smart female character, amen.)</p>
<p class=MsoNormal>Two off subjects: anyone who loves making fun of the French
MUST check out ROBIN WILLIAMS LIVE ON BROADWAY. It features two of the <span
class=GramE>funniest,</span> and truest rants on French people I've ever heard!</p>
<p class=MsoNormal>And <span class=SpellE>Quint</span>: you rock for
championing THE IRON GIANT, one of the best movies of the 90's, featuring one
of the coolest opening sequences I've seen in a sci-fi movie. I'm gonna go
watch it again, just because I can.</p>

I could be at a sneak preview right now but NOOOOOO i had to work.
I just saw the 9 min clip and i want to see this movie soo bad. If the whole movie is like that 9 min I think it could be one of pixars best work.
Disney was right to purchase pixar.